Obama, Romney would lose to Clinton, Reagan: Esquire/Yahoo News poll

When Yahoo News and Esquire commissioned a presidential poll in early September, we asked respondents their preference in two fantasy matchups: Barack Obama versus Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney versus Bill Clinton. Across nearly every demographic, our poll has uncovered a strong pro-nostalgia bent in the electorate.

Reagan defeated Obama by 14 points, while Clinton outran Romney by 35 points. Even respondents who identified with the contemporary candidate’s party demonstrated flaky loyalty. Among the general population, 23 percent of Democrats chose Reagan over Obama while 28 percent of Republicans preferred Clinton to Romney.

When we pitted Clinton versus Reagan in the finals, however, the two ex-presidents were locked in a statistical tie, 49 to 46 percent in Clinton’s favor. The margin of error for the poll among the general population was 4 percentage points.